The current legal model surrounding sex work in Victoria. Legalisation is sometimes referred to as licensing. Authorities attempt to control and regulate sex work by placing arbitrary and onerous restrictions on sex workers and sex industry businesses. Under legalisation/licensing the majority of sex workers remain criminalised, leaving a minority working legally.
All businesses and self-employed sex workers must be licensed and/or register themselves with the government (Consumer Affairs Victoria). Licensing requires individual sex workers to register on a government database using their legal names and addresses, thereby threatening their anonymity and possibly future employment. In Victoria the government maintains a register of individual sex workers which is accessible to authorised police officers.
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